Our Story

PeerNova is a Silicon Valley-based technology company founded by veteran entrepreneurs with deep expertise in distributed systems, networking solutions, Big Data, compiler technology, and financial services. Our team consists of members with past experience at Intel, Qualcomm, IBM, Google, and Yahoo.

Computing has brought unimaginable speed and scale to recordkeeping and data storage. Today’s financial institutions, exchanges, and insurance companies can record transactions and update information in near real-time and benefit from the agility this immediacy offers. But digital recordkeeping led to sacrificing permanency. When everything can be updated and changed, nothing feels truly secure. As a result, we’ve created a world where we can no longer trust the integrity of data, fully protect information from bad actors, or easily comply with regulations or audits.

Drawing on inspiration from millennial blockchain technology and millennia-old recordkeeping practices, PeerNova has developed a new approach to tackling this challenge: the first immutable ledger with built-in audit, scale, and other capabilities necessary to help the world’s most trusted organizations store, secure, and validate data while maintaining the enterprise-class controls they require. With this solution in place, organizations can ensure the integrity of their recordkeeping, meet constantly rising regulatory and compliance standards, and complete successful audits with fewer resources than ever before, all while moving at the speed their business demands. Your business can’t afford to rely on data that’s probably right. With PeerNova, you can trust and verify whatever you need to maintain the highest levels of confidence and business success.

Our Executive Team

Dr. Naveed Sherwani

President & CEO

Dr. Sherwani brings over 25 years of experience in entrepreneurship, technical engineering and general management. Dr. Sherwani has founded and co-founded nine companies in systems, software, and services. His recent focus has been on enterprise software, data analytics, and blockchain technologies. Prior to Peernova, Dr. Sherwani co-founded Open-Silicon, a leading provider of ASIC and system solutions. As the founder and General Manager of Intel Microelectronics Services, he pioneered Open methodology for EDA. He also founded Brite Semi, a leading solution provider in China/APAC. He has served on the boards of various companies, including Touchstone Inc., and Integration Associates. Dr. Sherwani is a noted author having written several books and over 100 articles on various aspects of algorithms, parallel computing, and EDA. In particular, he wrote the leading textbook on algorithms for chip-design automation, which is currently used in universities worldwide. Dr. Sherwani served as a Professor at Western Michigan University, where his research focused on algorithms, EDA, Combinatorics, and parallel computing. He received his Ph.D from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln.

Gangesh Ganesan

Chief Technology Officer

Gangesh Ganesan serves as the Chief Technology Officer of Peernova. Mr. Ganesan is an experienced technologist and entrepreneur, who has served as an advisor to numerous startups in the Semiconductor, Cloud, and Software industries. Mr. Ganesan was co-founder and CEO of a Hadoop Big Data startup called Factals from 2012 to 2013. From 2008 to 2012, Mr. Ganesan served as President and CEO of Ubicom, a network processor company that was acquired by Qualcomm. Prior to joining Ubicom, Mr. Ganesan served as Director of Strategic Marketing for Marvell Semiconductor. Mr. Ganesan also served as Director of Marketing for TCAMs and Networking Search Engines at Cypress Semiconductor. Mr. Ganesan started his career as an ASIC designer and Systems Architect at the Telex communications division of Bosch Communications. Mr. Ganesan has an MBA and an MS, both from the University of Minnesota, Minneapolis and a BE from College of Engineering, Guindy, Chennai, in India.

Chris Mausler

Chief Financial Officer

Chris Mausler serves as Chief Financial Officer of PeerNova. Mr. Mausler brings over 25 years of senior financial management experience in the technology sector, ranging from Fortune 500 corporations to start-up companies. Prior to joining PeerNova, Mr. Mausler was CFO of Calypto Design Systems, a fast-growing private EDA software company, from 2012 to 2014. Before joining Calypto, Mr. Mausler served as Vice President of Finance at Ubicom, a networking and multimedia semiconductor company, from 2009 until its acquisition by Qualcomm in 2012. Previous finance leadership positions include tenures at Xilinx, an FPGA semiconductor company; Optimize, a medical device start-up; Informix Corp., a relational database software company; and Quantum, a storage solutions company. Mr. Mausler began his career at IBM, where he gained ten years of experience in all disciplines of finance across multiple billion-dollar business units in San Jose and New York. Mr. Mausler holds a Bachelor of Arts degree in both Economics and Computer Science from Colgate University and an MBA in Finance and Accounting from Columbia Business School.

Raghu Rao

VP of Business Development

Raghu Rao is responsible for all business development and sales activities at PeerNova. Raghu has over 25 years of business development, sales and marketing experience at multiple technology companies in systems, hardware and software. Raghu has had long stints leading Europe/Middle East field operations teams out of London and Asia/Pac operations out of Tokyo. Raghu’s prior stints include Zenverge, Marvell, and Conexant.

Our Board

S. Atiq Raza

Chairman

Atiq Raza is currently Chairman & CEO of CALIENT Technologies, the leading MEMS Photonic Optical Switch Manufacturer. Atiq is also on the board of Solantro, Seeo, June-Alpha, and eASIC. Atiq also serves on the Stanford University School of Engineering Advisory Board. He was Chairman and CEO of NexGen, the first company to offer competitive products to Intel in microprocessors. Atiq became the President and COO of AMD and served on its Board of Directors. Prior to NexGen, Atiq held various management positions at VLSI, most notably the Vice-President of Technology Centers. Post AMD, Atiq founded Raza Microelectronics Incorporated (RMI). RMI was acquired by NetLogic in October 2009. Atiq served as Chief Technology Advisor to NetLogic. NetLogic was in turn acquired by Broadcom on the strength of its Processor. Atiq has served as Chairman of the Board at Validity. Atiq also served as Chief Technology Advisor to NetLogic and has been on the boards of several successful start-ups including Mellanox (now a public company), SiByte (acquired by Broadcom for $2.2 billion), Siara (acquired by Redback for $4 billion), VxTel (acquired by Intel for $500 million) and Magma (formerly a public company which was recently acquired by Synopsys). He has several degrees, including his Bachelor’s degree with honors in Physics from Punjab University, a bachelor’s degree in Philosophy, a Bachelor’s degree in Electrical Engineering with honors from the University of London, and a Master’s degree in Materials Science & Engineering from Stanford University.

Dr. Naveed Sherwani

Board Member

Dr. Sherwani brings over 25 years of experience in entrepreneurship, technical engineering and general management. Dr. Sherwani has founded and co-founded nine companies in systems, software, and services. His recent focus has been on enterprise software, data analytics, and blockchain technologies. Prior to Peernova, Dr. Sherwani co-founded Open-Silicon, a leading provider of ASIC and system solutions. As the founder and General Manager of Intel Microelectronics Services, he pioneered Open methodology for EDA. He also founded Brite Semi, a leading solution provider in China/APAC. He has served on the boards of various companies, including Touchstone Inc., and Integration Associates. Dr. Sherwani is a noted author having written several books and over 100 articles on various aspects of algorithms, parallel computing, and EDA. In particular, he wrote the leading textbook on algorithms for chip-design automation, which is currently used in universities worldwide. Dr. Sherwani served as a Professor at Western Michigan University, where his research focused on algorithms, EDA, Combinatorics, and parallel computing. He received his Ph.D from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln.

Jalil Shaikh

Board Member

Jalil Shaikh has served as Vice President and General Manager at Atmel since February 2010. Previously Mr. Shaikh was the CEO and Board Member at Validity Sensors where he successfully raised multiple rounds of funding and established strategies to commercialize Finger Print Reader technology. Jalil has also held positions as Vice President (VP) and General Manager at Broadcom Corporation, CEO at Zeevo (acquired by Broadcom), Sr. VP of Operations at Silicon Image and management positions at Micro Linear, where last two companies had very successful IPOs. Prior to Silicon Image, Mr. Shaikh was Director of Operations at Trident Microsystems which enjoyed significant growth in shareholder value and revenue during his tenure. Mr. Shaikh began his career at National Semiconductor where he held management positions in Operations and Product Marketing from 1983 to 1990. Mr. Shaikh holds an MS in Electrical Engineering from Rutgers University, New Jersey, and an MBA from the University of Phoenix.

David Bell

Board Member

David Bell is an experienced high-tech executive in both the semiconductor and high-tech systems industries. From 2008 through 2012 he served as CEO of Intersil, a public analog & mixed signal semiconductor company. Prior to joining Intersil, Mr. Bell was President of Linear Technology Corporation, another analog & mixed signal semiconductor company. Other previous employment includes Director of Hardware Development at IDEO, and founder and CEO of Bell Associates, a high-tech product development consulting firm. Other systems development experience includes Manager of Hardware Development at Sydis (an integrated voice & data minicomputer company), and Engineering Project Manager at HP Data Systems Division. Mr. Bell has served on the Board of Directors of the Semiconductor Industry Association (SIA), Global Semiconductor Alliance (GSA), the Silicon Valley Leadership Group (SVLG), Intersil, and Open-Silicon. Mr. Bell earned his BSEE degree from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, focusing on analog circuit design.

Howard Mergelkamp

Board Member

Howard has over 20 years of investment banking, private equity, operating and corporate law experience in financial technology, electronic payments and financial services. As a founding member of Corporate Ventures and Advisory Services at BlackRock, Inc., Howard advised on proprietary investments and third-party mergers and acquisitions in financial technology. As a Senior Vice President at Regulus Group LLC (a payments portfolio company of Liberty Partners) he led strategic planning, mergers and acquisitions, and corporate restructuring. Howard’s advisory experience includes investment banking at Merrill Lynch & Co. focusing on mergers and acquisitions and corporate finance in electronic payments and financial technology, and corporate law at Wachtell, Lipton, Rosen & Katz and Cravath, Swaine & Moore focusing on mergers and acquisitions in banking, asset management, insurance and consumer finance. Howard has advised on over $156 billion of strategic transactions across 91 completed deals of all types and structures, working with executive management teams and boards at companies with market capitalizations from $1 million to $43 billion. Howard has a BA, cum laude, in political science and economics from Columbia University and a JD, magna cum laude, from University of Pennsylvania Law School.

Gangesh Ganesan

Board Member

Gangesh Ganesan serves as the Chief Technology Officer of Peernova. Mr. Ganesan is an experienced technologist and entrepreneur, who has served as an advisor to numerous startups in the Semiconductor, Cloud, and Software industries. Mr. Ganesan was co-founder and CEO of a Hadoop Big Data startup called Factals from 2012 to 2013. From 2008 to 2012, Mr. Ganesan served as President and CEO of Ubicom, a network processor company that was acquired by Qualcomm. Prior to joining Ubicom, Mr. Ganesan served as Director of Strategic Marketing for Marvell Semiconductor. Mr. Ganesan also served as Director of Marketing for TCAMs and Networking Search Engines at Cypress Semiconductor. Mr. Ganesan started his career as an ASIC designer and Systems Architect at the Telex communications division of Bosch Communications. Mr. Ganesan has an MBA and an MS, both from the University of Minnesota, Minneapolis and a BE from College of Engineering, Guindy, Chennai, in India.

Jonathan E. Johnson

Board Member

Johnson is president of Medici Ventures, Overstock’s subsidiary that oversees a portfolio of blockchain technology and fintech businesses, including PeerNova. Johnson joined Overstock in 2002, and has served as the chairman of Overstock’s board of directors since April 2014, transitioning to the position after five years as the company’s president, and later, as the acting CEO and executive vice chairman of the board. He has been an integral part of Overstock’s meteoric growth from a small start-up to a publicly traded company with over $1.8 billion in sales and over 1,700 employees. Prior to Overstock, he served various positions with TenFold Corporation, including Chief Financial Officer, Executive Vice President, Senior Vice President, and General Counsel. Johnson received a Bachelor’s Degree in Japanese from Brigham Young University, studied at Osaka University of Foreign Studies in Japan as a Ministry of Education Scholar, and received his Juris Doctor degree from the J. Reuben Clark Law School at Brigham Young University.

Investors

Individual Investors:

Steve Case

Ashar Aziz

Pierre Lamond

Atiq Raza

About us

PeerNova is a Silicon Valley-based technology company founded by veteran entrepreneurs with deep expertise in distributed systems, networking solutions, Big Data, compiler technology, and financial services.